Alcott to train with Norwegians

British racer Chemmy Alcott will train with the Norwegian World Cup team in preparing for next year’s Winter Olympics Games in Sochi, reports the BBC.

Alcott, 30, has twice finished 11th at the Olympics and is hoping for a top-eight result in Russia.

She will compete with the Norwegians at World Cup events but will line up for Team GB at the Olympics.

“I would never ever leave my country. This is just the strange situation to get there,” Alcott said.

The racer lost her funding in 2010 after a decision by UK Sport to remove all support for alpine skiing prior to the Sochi Games. Alcott has spent the last three seasons training with the Canadian team. Under the new arrangement, she will be working with with Norway’s head coach, Stefan Abplanalp, whom Alcott has known for 14 years.

“I used to get really bitter and it used to make me really sad that I was ranked eighth in the world and not getting any money from UK Sport but I’ve got used to it now,” Alcott said. “This is my last Olympics and it could be my last season skiing. I’ve got a lot to prove and I don’t want to waste any energy on fighting the system anymore.

“So I’m just going out there with my head down and my focus on achieving my best result ever at Sochi. That’s the aim and always has been.”

Geoff Mintz is a former alpine ski racer who cut his teeth at Ragged Mountain and Waterville Valley, N.H. After graduating from Holderness and UVM, he relocated to Colorado, where he worked as an instructor at Beaver Creek prior to pursuing a career in journalism.